1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of Internet searching and electronic matching. More specifically, the present invention is related to a GUI for representing entity matching utilizing graphical transitions performed directly on the matching object.
2. Discussion of Prior Art
The World Wide Web (WWW) is comprised of an expansive network of interconnected computers upon which businesses, governments, groups, and individuals throughout the world maintain inter-linked computer files known as web pages. These web pages contain a multitude of information about people, places, things, etc. Users navigate these pages by means of computer software programs commonly known as Internet browsers. Due to the vastness of the unstructured WWW, users typically use search engines to retrieve information or to locate entities of interest. This sort of access is possible via a pull operation.
A pull operation is the process via which data is requested (by a user) from another program or computer. The opposite of pull is push, where data is sent without a request being made. The terms push and pull are used frequently to describe data sent over the Internet. The World Wide Web is based on pull technologies, where a page isn""t delivered until a browser requests it. Increasingly, however, information services are harnessing the Internet to broadcast information using push technologies.
Applications, running on behalf of businesses, governments, groups, and individuals can support a community of users. An example of this can be a generic portal site, such as Yahoo(copyright) or Excite(copyright), or sites tailored to specialized information (e.g., a stock trading site), or sites dedicated to specific groups of people (e.g., bicyclists or women). These sites can maintain a body of information, organized in a logical hierarchical fashion that the user can access. Given that the user is a member of this community (i.e., is registered), the maintaining organization can have knowledge about the user (e.g., name, location, preferences). With this user knowledge, the maintaining organization can push information that it believes is of interest to the user. A basic example is the weather, wherein with the knowledge of a user""s zip code or city, the maintaining organization can push a weather forecast for the user""s area to the user. It can also push local news stories or events that relate to the user""s interests. It can also inform the user of other people that it determines are similar to the user.
Search engines are in the business of finding matches to a user""s search request. They typically depict relevance/accuracy via various methods, such as the order in which the search results are displayed or associating some number of stars to the search results.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art scenario, wherein, based on a search query, a search engine returns items that match the search criteria entered by a user. The relevancy of the matched item with the search criteria is indicated using stars. A maximum of five stars is used in this example to indicate a perfect match (100%) and a lone star indicates a poor match (0%). One problem associated with these kinds of matching systems is that there are only predetermined discrete levels of matching that can be indicated. For the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the different levels of matching are outlined in Table 1.
As illustrated in Table 1, the levels available for matching in this example are limited. In the instance a first document matches a query by 70%, and a second document matches the same query by 80%, the scoring system is unable to distinguish between these percentages, and thus bin both these percentages with the same score of four stars. Furthermore, prior art systems are unable to provide for a matching system that visually indicates the level of matching while simultaneously providing matching based on a broad range of levels.
Whatever the precise merits, features and advantages of the above cited references, none of them achieve or fulfills the purposes of the present invention. These and other objects are achieved by the detailed description that follows.
The present invention provides for a graphical user interface (GUI) for representing entity matches utilizing graphical transitions performed directly on the matching object. Furthermore, the present system and method provide for a graphical transition of matching objects based on type of entity and match rating. The transition techniques employed (such as blurring, composite, and fantasy) reflect the spectrum of an inaccurate to an accurate match. The GUI represents the match results among a number of entities of the same type.
The present invention, in its preferred embodiment, requests a match determination, and a match rating, based on the match determination, is obtained. Next, a transition technique is selected and an image object is rendered based on a graphical transition, which in turn is based on the match rating. The graphical transition gives a visual indication of the quality of the match based on the completeness, resolution, etc.